Opera Warhorses

 
[Above: the Basic Set for the San Diego Opera production of Berg's"Wozzeck", the Tavern Scene in view; edited image, based on a Ken Howard photograph, courtesy of the San Diego Opera.]
Is it possible for a bi-coastal American creative team, centered in the San Diego opera and theatre communities and New York City’s Broadway theatre district, to [...]

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Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”, one of the great masterpieces of Italian opera, has, from its triumphant premiere 155 years ago, always been popular with the opera-going public, even as generations of detractors have developed their talking points on why we must not love the opera so much.
We have always been told this opera’s plot is difficult [...]

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Washington National Opera’s second installment of its new production of Wagner’s “Der Ring des Niebelungen” (co-produced with the San Francisco Opera) debuted at the Kennedy Center in late March. I attended its second performance. Circumstances had prevented me from attending the WNO production of its prequel opera “Das Rheingold” in 2006, where the Rhinemaidens are [...]

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